Cocoa’s introduction to milking…

March 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm (Economics, Farm life, Jer-Low, Jersey Lowline Cross, Milk Cow, Old World Jersey, Sustainable)
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It’s always an unknown, how a cow will respond to being milked.

When I think of a milking cow, I see a picture in my head. It’s of a mellow cow slowly moving to the milking trailer, browsing around inside the head stall, searching out her treats & munching away on a bits of hay

Extra fine hay & a bit of grain

while she stands patiently, and is milked. I don’t even need to lock her into the headstall to prevent her from backing up.

She knows, and is comfortable with the whole routine.  It’s an expected part of the day. If I don’t come soon enough, she will stand at the gate waiting for me, with large patient eyes. No fuss, no mooing, no impatience… she just “waits”.

I open the gate, and she marches right in.  I don’t even need to put up a paneled run to make sure she doesn’t “escape” and go somewhere else.  She knows right where she wants to go, and we are on the same page.

A Different Kettle of Fish

But now, a brand-new cow to milking, is whole different kettle of fish.  As I’ve mentioned before, we like to leave the calves on their mom’s full-time for the first few weeks, and then we will start to share milk with the calf, milking once a day. She has recovered from the birth and bonded with her newborn. (In the industry, she would never see her calf again, after the delivery.)

I run through my head of all the possible “problems” and things I need to get ready “just in case” we run into one of those problems. She could be frightened of the milking trailer… you go from bright sunshine into a shadowy area; it’s spooky to a cow.  The smells should be OK… calm cows have been in there before her so have not left the “scent” of fear/anxiety/stress.  (Under stress a cow will shoot out a VERY icky, smelly, liquid poop! guaranteed to tell the next cow, DANGER).

Competition & other misc matters…

Panels confine the space, for milking in the protected trailer

She might not like the confined feeling of the trailer, or she may not like the hen who is trying to nest in her food/hay in the head stall (a BIG problem… I have no idea why the hens seem to think that is the optimal place to lay their eggs)!

I have even seen a hen squawk so much, when her “laying time” is getting interrupted that Bessie will back out and WAIT until the hen is done!

Quite funny to see a 7 lb hen, dictate timing to a 1000 lb milk cow!

And then the big problem that must be ready for… what if she’s a kicker? or a tale swisher.  We’ve had a cow before that would just wait (and remember… they can keep one eye on you AND one eye on their food, AT THE SAME TIME)…until you are in position and let loose a kick or swatch your face with her tail. (Oh yes, they can hit a fly at 30 paces, I swear! they are so accurate with that tail). Heaven help you if that tail is a bit yucky with manure… ’cause you are sure to wear it, if she’s that kind of girl! 

Our 9 yr old standard Jersey…  Bessie is as mellow as they come, and she is a treasure to work with… very, very good for beginners to start with. But like I said, a new cow is just unknown territory.

A beef cow… you can’t get anywhere near their udder… unless you have them locked down in a squeeze chute where they absolutely can’t get away from you.  Amazingly… they never have ANY problems with their udders… tiny, petite, and absolutely functional ’cause their calves grow like weeds. At least, that is our experience with our Lowline Angus… great moms & healthy calves.

Breeding Stock for small family farms…

Because we are working on developing stock for the small farm, we decided to branch out a bit from the traditional milk cow and beef cow.  Each have been bred for a specific purpose and if you have lots of room, they are generally your best bet to utilize.

If I want a beef cow to give milk… I’ll probably have to give up milk quantity.  If I want a milk cow to be good for meat… I will probably have to give up high-end quality  meat (i.e. tenderness & taste).   It will still be good, just not 5 star rated!

And then there are temperament issues.  Like I said, a milk cow tends to be mellow and gives up her calf easily but a beef cow is very protective of her calf (and her udder). She may not want to be separated from her calf or follow you dociley into a metal box and just stand there.  (Remember, her world is the wide open pasture and she must protect her young from predators!)

Jersey/Lowline (aka Jer-Low)

Cocoa, is our first result of crossbreeding a milk cow with a high-end mini-beef bull.  She was a bit taller than we expected, her coat is darker than her mother (but not solid black like the Angus), and she has more of the dairy build with a more pronounced udder and excellent teat size and placement.   Something you don’t really know until she has her first calf. (Bessie has teeny, tiny teats which makes hand milking very difficult!).

I was running over in my head the need to take her into the milking trailer and just feeding her there a few times to get used to the space, adding the milk strap that goes over her back (which will hold the milk bucket under her), and in a few days, actually turn on the pump (noisy, although it IS placed outside the stall)… but letting her build up a tolerance to all the “new” stuff.  All the while rubbing, brushing and sweet talking her.

In the meantime, Job (our intern) goes out to the pasture, brings her into the stall. He just skips to the end and gets it DONE.

Now I grant you, she needed some rear pressure to get her in the first time but once she discovered the fresh hay and a bit of grain she was a convert! The next day, she headed in without missing a beat, and Job, with his long legs stretched out under her, proceeded to hand milk her. I think, after milking her, he did turn on the pump so she could near the noise from it and realize that it wasn’t going to hurt her, or take her food!  The next day… you guessed it, Job put the portable milk machine on her and that was that.

Except, bless her udder, she gave more and more milk each day. Luscious sweet raw milk, with a rich yellow tint that speaks of lots of vitamins,  from the pasture she has been on. When the milk “settles” it has a layer thick with cream that we will harvest to make butter (or ice cream or real whipping cream).

All my worry and problem-solving down the drain… Job just goes out and does it.  Did I mention that he is brand new at this game?  Awesome!

It was wonderful to find that Cocoa has kept the best traits from her dairy side… while her bull calf will be valuable to the small acreage for very usable meat… he is 3/4 Lowline Angus and will have excellent genetics for quality beef. A Two-for-One package deal: milk and beef. We call that success!

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Calf on the loose – A Subverted Milking session

February 15, 2012 at 10:47 am (Economics, Farm life, Sustainable)
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Chocolate is usually quite amenable to going into the milking trailer, and if she seems to balk a bit… a little shake  of a scoop of grain has her right up to the head stall & feeding trough! Not today… she hemmed hawed up to the entrance, and then backed off.  Her tongue reached out as far as it could to dip into the scoop but no amount of tempting her, would get her to come in.  And then I looked a bit closer. UGGGGH.

milked out

Deflated udder

When one wants to milk the milk cow, it really helps if she has some milk to give! I realized that Chocolate’s calf had been left in the paddock with her, with the morning feed, instead of being left in the main pasture.  We have mom & calf together at night.  At just under 4 weeks I want the calf to be able to nurse during the night and early morning, when it is cold.

Jim does the early morning feeding (ah, what a husband!) before he heads in to work.

Usually, the mom & calf are separated (calf left in the main pasture), and then I milk mid-day, or thereabout. Her udder has filled and there is a “pressure” that needs to be relieved.  Between the grain, high-end hay, and the udder pressure, she is usually very happy to get milked. But not today; in the rush, the calf and mom were together and I’m sure his tummy was quite full ’cause Chocolate’s udders were pretty deflated.

calf on the loose

Calf, tummy full of milk!

Discretion is the better part of valor!

I decided this was one battle I did not need to fight.  But as I was getting Chocolate BACK into the pasture, the calf slipped through the gate, to the outside.  OK… chase the calf, or finish with Chocolate. Whoops, here comes Bessie.

Decided the calf would not go far from mom… so dealt with getting Chocolate back into the pasture. All without Bessie slipping past me… she would LOVE to go to the milking trailer for all those goodies… but she hasn’t delivered yet, so no go. As a standard jersey she was very used to getting grain, in the old days.

So let’s see… here I am, dancing around with three cows trying to get them elsewhere. I just take a deep breath and laugh.  The sun is shining, the momma hen is out with the chicks, and the day is good.

And then…

Under Mick's watchful eye, baby chicks

Phacelia checking out the chicks

My current assistant (10), a young chicken entrepreneur(she has a flock of 9), has stopped by to see what is going on, on the farm.  She volunteers to help me out.

Sad that she doesn’t get to help me with the milking, she is more than happy to help me collect eggs and socialize the calf!

One of the best parts of the farm, letting kids (and adults) have the “experience” of a farm.  Our chickens are free-ranging (oophs, watch where you step!), the mini-horses, and the cows are fair game for interacting with.  Only the hogs are kept contained; one boar and two gilts. (Gilts are female pigs that have never birthed piglets. After they have their first litter they are called a sow.)

But back to the calf… he is having the time of his life running up and down the fence line that separates him from his mom. But oh, what things to explore.  He’s checking out the turkeys, the benches, the chickens, and down to the mini-horses. After 30 minutes of playtime, he’s quite easy to “walk” to the gate.  I barely get it open and he slips through, back to mom.

Phacelia making friends!

Calf socialization in progress

Interestingly, cows have pressure points and if you know the “points” you can move them fairly easily, as long as they are not scared! It’s important to move slow and be MELLOW! You just stand about 45 degrees to the left or right of the REAR of the cow, and move slowly toward them. They will move away, generally in a straight path. How close to the rear of the cow depends on how well they know you.  So the calf is “in training” and he responds very traditionally to the “pressure points” and we are able to walk him to the gate entrance.

We went on a round-up one time… a real-life cattle roundup, to bring the cow-calf pairs in from the range.  It was time to brand, castrate, vaccinate, etc.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40 cows.   All the horses were brought out and everyone mounted up (except me… I was helping with the medical supplies) & 92-year-old grandpa, just recovering from heart surgery, was in charge (but NOT allowed back on a horse, yet). He was one tough guy… and quite together! This was his cattle ranch.

kids, adults, all have "jobs"

All hands on board to help out

A 4×4 was sent out with its usual load of hay, which brought the cows into the vicinity.  And then the horses surrounded the cows and moved them into the paddocks. Gates closed… sorting and work began.  James & I just looked at each other. We could have done the same thing, without the horses.  Just pressure walked them into the paddocks. But as someone pointed out… NOT NEAR AS MUCH FUN for all the horsemen (kids, etc). It was a big annual event/party. And the chance to practice roping & cutting skills. The horses were definitely a BIG asset when it came to catching and pinning down the calves.

bringing a calf down

Round-up in action

On our farm, we do things a bit differently.

  • We don’t brand… we ear tag.
  • We don’t vaccinate because our livestock don’t travel (no fairs, shows, etc) so they are not exposed to “bugs”.  If there was something endemic to where we live, we would vaccinate. The horses do get vaccinated for West Nile, spread by mosquitos, which has shown up in our area.
  • To convert bull calf to steers, we band when they are very young.

But we are able to do things this way because we are a very, very small operation. Size changes the methods of operation. Size, numbers, skills, tools at hand, staff, temperament, all factor in.  On each “farm” there is a lot of trial and error, to find the best fit. Farmers and ranchers are real life problem solvers on a daily basis, which of course, makes things quite interesting!

Here on The Heritage Farm, we’re still fine tuning our operation.

This morning, we are a little low on fresh milk and cream… but we had a VERY satisfied calf yesterday, I’m sure! But I’m learning… and fine-tuning our set-up.

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Milking Chocolate

February 1, 2012 at 1:04 pm (Farm life, Old World Jersey, Organic vs Conventional)
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Henry, at 2 weeks old, waiting while mom gets milked today.

At two full weeks, Chocolate was still leaking milk from her udder.  Obviously she still had much more milk than the calf could use so we decided to go ahead and start milking her.

The first time she was not too thrilled… until she saw some GRAIN.  Then she willingly went into the milking trailer. She fussed a little bit (we put a hobble on so she could not kick), but after the first milking she got into the rhythm of it… and no longer tried to kick.

I guess we were taking a little toooo long, the first time. When she was DONE, she was DONE. Uh, never mind that WE WERE NOT. She backed herself right out of the stall with the milking equipment still attached. Our poor intern was thunder struck. All I could do was laugh; it had happened to me in the past. Go with the flow. BUT, have to get the head stall bar put back in, so she could not back out of her own free will.

Portable Milker attached

In the picture you can see the silver Inflaters, on the teats, which pulsate with a light rhythmic vacuum, and milks the cow out in about 10 minutes, into the large bucket. It is suspended from a back-strap… and goes with the cow when she moves around in the stall. The time consuming part is the cleaning of the udder and the teats to insure they do not contaminate the milk.  The bucket is taken directly back to the house, filtered, and refrigerated.

COMMERCIAL DAIRIES have it backwards!

I was shocked at another dairy, impressively spic and span (sterile almost), to see them do virtually no cleaning of the udder/teats. What they did do, left drainage on the teat that would be pulled into the milking lines.  Now I KNOW why they MUST pasteurize their milk. I would never drink raw milk from such an operation.

We also pay extraordinary attention to the proper cleaning of the equipment, after use, to prevent any source of contamination building up. Understanding  clean aseptic technique is critical. It reduces the transference of organisms, rather than killing every living thing.

Why don’t I keep a pristine clean milking stall? Because 99.9% of microbes are either beneficial or benign (i.e. don’t cause a problem).  If I kill them off all the time (with chemicals, etc.) I am providing a petri dish to grow bad bugs. Those bugs that can survive my killing chemicals!  In nature, there is NO such thing as an empty niche. Odds are, over time, it will be a bad bug we can’t kill off.

With good “aseptic technique” we prevent contamination in the first place.  Any milk that is questionable goes immediately to the pigs… nothing is wasted and there is no urgency to preserve every drop for our personal use. We err on the side of caution… something the industrial business model does not always follow, sad to say.

GRAIN 

Interestingly, during Chocolate’s pregnancy she had NO interest in grain. Now remember, she is an “Old World Jersey”, a heritage breed that has not been quite as domesticated as standard jerseys.  Her body mass is fuller (standard jersey’s can look emaciated as they put all their energy into the udder/milk process). She has more reserves (more meat on her bones).  She does NOT produce as much milk as a standard jersey.  She does well on pasture and has not been bred to need grain.

During her pregnancy she was quite uninterested in any grain, but now that she is producing milk, she has developed a distinct “LIKE” for grain.  She’ll get a small amount, a scoop (couple of cups) each day along with hay, with her milking. I’m guessing that  with the extra milk production she needs more “energy” to provide it. Or, if not needing it precisely, she likes it.

We also add in some kelp meal & D.E. (diatomaceous earth) to her daily ration.  They provide her with micro nutrients that might be missing in the soil the hay was grown in.  The D.E. also functions as a natural dewormer that we use with all our livestock.

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